How to Get Your First Coaching Client
This guest blog was written by Lindsay Maloney, self-made business and success coach who specializes in teaching women how to scale their dream coaching businesses with simplicity and confidence. Find her at lindsaymaloney.com
Someone wants you to be their coach! It’s not a friend or family member, AND they actually want to pay you!
Coaches dream of this moment. Especially after they’ve done the work of creating their website (which is so awesome that they even look at it several times a day), posting on social media consistently, and putting out some pretty great blog posts.
But, there’s a problem. No discovery call applications, their calendar is empty, and they’re starting to feel their balloon full of happiness deflate.
Sound familiar? You have two choices at this point.
Give up and move on with your life. Hey, at least you tried.
Or.
Keep going because you believe in yourself.
And I don’t know about you but I think you should keep going.
So, let’s dig into some tangible things that you can do right now, to make sure you are one step closer to booking that first client of yours.
Be Clear With Your Messaging
When we’re clear with our messaging, others will be as well. Plus, it will be so easy for them to make the right choice.
Imagine this situation: You meet someone at a networking event and they ask what you do. How long does it take for you to respond? How do you feel? Nervous or confident? Knowing who you help and how is a simple way to check in.
Fill in the blanks: I help “WHO” do “WHAT.”To figure out who you help, think about the person you feel called to serve. What do they do and what transformation are they looking for? Being too broad can make your messaging unclear and difficult to grasp. Don’t be afraid to simplify. In fact, I encourage it.
If you’ve been marketing yourself generically to prevent leaving anyone out, you’re making a big mistake. In my experience, taking your niche from helping everyone to a specific group of people will draw in clients quickly and easily.
A great example would be a coach who wants to help everyone start their online business. The “who” and the “what” are much too broad. If we approach our coaching businesses as specialists, then it may become easier to pick something and go with it. You wouldn’t go to a general practitioner if you had a problem with your vision right? You would go to a specialist who clearly focuses on that one area.
Becoming a specialist in your niche clears away the confusion when it comes to communicating with potential clients. There’s no grey area and it’s much easier to be known as the authority in your niche.
Let’s get into the “what” now. Clients invest in transformations. And that transformation better be clear and impactful. In your own words, think about what they wish they could have. If you waived a magic wand and they could have one thing, what would that be? That is your “what.” When you make simple changes like this, it makes tasks like writing copy and speaking about your business so much easier.
Meet Them Where They Are
Knowing where your potential clients are hanging out on social media is important. An easy way to figure this out is to really tune into your dream client. What is the first application that they open in the morning? Where do they spend most of their time? Is that where you are as well?
If you are unsure, test it out. Give each platform that you feel your client is on a few weeks of special attention. Take note of the types of followers you have and the engagement. At the end of the testing period, if you’re able, look at the analytics of your website and determine which platform referred the most people
Prepare and Get Set Up
Coaches, you need to have these four elements in place in order to start booking clients asap! Ready?
A ONE-ON-ONE COACHING SALES PAGE:
Give your clients more than a few paragraphs or a contact page to learn more about your services. They are on your site because they’re looking for an answer to their problem. They’re looking for a way to achieve their goals and are tired of doing it on their own. They need and deserve to know that you get them. They need to feel like you’re speaking their language and that you have a sense of what they’re going through. Tap into their struggles and do not be afraid to go deep. Feelings are decision makers and when clients see that you’ve been where they are now and you know how they feel, it builds trust.
Insider tip: Click Here to see how I do mine.
COACHING PACKAGES:
I recommend creating three different coaching packages to choose from. So, instead of potential clients having to make a “yes or no” decision (if you just have one package to choose from), it’s a “which package should I choose?” decision. People appreciate options. I know I do.
Insider tip: Click Here to see how I do mine.
AN APPLICATION:
If you are giving website visitors full access to your calendar to book a call, you are wasting your time and lowering your clients’ conversion rate. Instead, make them apply. When you screen your applicants, you are able to have full control over who you get on the phone with and that means no more tire kickers, no more “let me think about it” and no more free coaching. Your application should ask for any info you need to make your decision. Don’t be afraid to ask them if they are willing to make an investment.
Insider tip: Click Here to see how I do mine.
AN ON-BOARDING PROCESS:
Having a full onboarding process will serve you in the most positive way when you get your first “yes.” There is a lot of excitement when a client signs on so anticipate these steps in advance and write down everything it will take to on-board your clients. Create a master workflow that you can refer to time and time again. This will save you a lot of time and will help you avoid missing any major steps.
So, as you can see, booking clients is not just about having a website. It’s what’s inside that counts. Being mindful of these things will take you from a place of overwhelm and frustration to feeling fully confident and ready to serve your dream clients.
Trust the process, release the pressure, and know that you are here to help serve others. That’s it. It will all come together as soon as you remove yourself from the outcome and get those dollar signs out of your eyes. You got this.
To walk through this process with me, for free, download the workbook HERE.
